1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to voltage regulators and, in particular, to voltage regulator circuits providing a plurality of output terminals, which terminals are isolated from each other.
2. Statement Of The Prior Art
Voltage regulator circuits are used in a wide variety of electronic applications, including computers and, in particular, microcomputers. Voltage regulation is required for these applications to insure proper operation of the various components therein. It is often also desirable to isolate the power supplies of various components in order to prevent interference caused by the operation of one component from affecting the operation of another component. One specific example is the area of digital computing components which are often combined with a variety of output devices such as relays and triacs and other forms of output components having relatively large current requirements. It is often the case that interference is generated by output components and transmitted via the power supply wiring, which interference is capable of causing difficulties in the operation of various digital computing circuits, i.e. microcomputers and microprocessors. As a result of this, it is often required that such systems including both microcomputing components and high current output devices have a plurality of power supplies each of which has its own regulator for insuring proper operation of the various components. The use of a plurality of circuits to provide such a plurality of regulated outputs is more expensive than the use of a single regulated voltage power circuit.